By Bridget McCrea
If you’re looking for an offline way to find your next salesperson, consider sponsoring one of the various collegiate sales competitions held annually at locations nationwide. “These are the best kept secrets in the nation for companies looking to fill entry-level sales positions,” says Howard Dover of the University of Texas at Dallas. At the events, students from universities and colleges that offer sales programs convene and participate in a competition (to find the top sales team and top salespeople in the nation) and job fair.
The largest sales competition, the National Collegiate Sales Competition, is held every march in Atlanta, where more than 60 universities and 60 companies participate over a 4-day period. Similar national gatherings include the World Collegiate Sales Open in Illinois, the International Collegiate Sales Competition in Florida, and the National Sales Challenge in New Jersey.
According to Dover, many companies are completely unaware of the annual events. “This is where you will find the cream of the crop and the best talent in the nation coming out of colleges,” says Dover. “These individuals are trained in how to sell, they are used to receiving feedback and how to handle customer calls, and they know they want to go into sales.”
To attend and participate in the contests, companies must become sponsors. Dover says there are different levels of sponsorship, and says a distributor can expect to pay “about the same amount of money it costs to attend and exhibit at a regular job fair.” Learn more by clicking on any of the content names mentioned in this article.
Editor’s note: Click here to read Tuesday’s sidebar on five basics of the hiring process that you shouldn’t ignore.
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McCrea is a Florida-based writer who covers business, industrial, and educational topics for a variety of magazines and journals. You can reach her at bridgetmc@earthlink.net or visit her website at www.expertghostwriter.net.
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